Larners’ $66 Million Helps Set New UVM Foundation Record, $135 Million in FY 17

July 27, 2017 by
Mark Ray

Through a $66 million bequest by the late Robert Larner, M.D. '42 and his wife, Helen, the Larner College of Medicine helped the University of Vermont Foundation and UVM Medical Center Foundation secure a record $135,692,313 in total new commitments pledged during the fiscal year that concluded on June 30, 2017.

Through a $66 million bequest by the late Robert Larner, M.D. '42 and his wife, Helen, the Larner College of Medicine helped the University of Vermont Foundation and UVM Medical Center Foundation secure a record $135,692,313 in total new commitments pledged during the fiscal year that concluded on June 30, 2017. This achievement marks the fourth year in a row that the UVM Foundation has set a new institutional record for total commitments to support UVM and the UVM Medical Center.

Commitments include new gifts, pledges, bequests and gifts-in-kind documented during the fiscal year. The prior record at UVM for commitments was $76,758,513 (established in fiscal year 2016), representing an increase this year of almost 77 percent.

Accounting for nearly 49 percent of this record-breaking fiscal year, the Larners’ bequest is the largest gift ever to a public university in New England. It caps decades of philanthropic support from the Larners, and brings the couple’s lifetime giving to an estimated $100 million to support medical education at UVM. In grateful recognition, the UVM Board of Trustees announced its decision in September 2016 to name The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine, representing the first time a U.S. medical school has been designated to honor an alumnus physician and donor.

Additionally, a number of other gifts highlighted this signature year.

The UVM Foundation successfully completed the Grossman Challenge, a matching initiative from Steven Grossman ’61 and the Grossman Family Foundation to raise $10 million for the Grossman School of Business.

In April, UVM announced its first university-wide environmental institute, the interdisciplinary Gund Institute for Environment. It was made possible by a $6 million gift from the Gund Family.

An investment to renovate the former Taft School into UVM’s first integrated center for the arts came from a leadership gift of $5 million from Michele Cohen ‘72 and her husband Marty.

With five faculty investiture ceremonies held during this fiscal year, the university and the UVM Foundation now have more than doubled the number of endowed positions on campus with 107 as of June 30, 2017.

“I am deeply moved by the decision many have made to invest in the Move Mountains campaign,” said UVM President Tom Sullivan. “We consider donors as partners who, with the talented people here at UVM, generate excitement and momentum towards an even more purposeful future. We are honored to steward these gifts as we uphold the generosity of those who believe so deeply in the value of a UVM education.”

In addition to student, faculty, and program support, capital projects also benefited from important gifts. Those efforts included the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Complex, Taft School and Billings Library renovations, Ifshin Hall (Grossman School of Business), UVM Alumni House and the UVM Medical Center's new inpatient facility, the Robert E. and Holly D. Miller Building.

As of June 30, 2017, there were 61,199 donors to UVM through the Move Mountains campaign and 18,938 donors to the UVM Medical Center, with some of these donors giving to both organizations. More than a third hail from Vermont.

Adapted for the Larner College of Medicine from a press release by Mark Ray